Networking equipment often has internal clocks to indicated date and time for files and other information. However, date and time of internal clocks may not be accurate for some applications. It is often desirable for networking equipment to have a more accurate date and time.
A time reference signal may be used to provide a more accurate date and time to networking equipment. The type of time reference signal and the means of communicating the time reference signal to networking equipment can vary. Certain networking equipment may receive one type of time reference signal over a wire cable, for example. Other networking equipment may receive a different time reference signal over an optical cable, for example. Integrating the different networking equipment with different types of time reference signals into a network can be challenging.
It is desirable to provide a flexible approach to communicating time reference signals to networking equipment.